What you teach, you should do

[Rich]

What you teach, you should do

"While it is sinful to abolish the least of the commandments, all
the more so the great and most important ones. Hence the Holy Spirit
affirms through Solomon: 'Whoever despises the little things shall
gradually die' (Sirach 19:1b). Consequently nothing in the divine
commandments must be abolished, nothing altered. Everything must be
preserved and taught faithfully and devotedly that the glory of the
heavenly kingdom may not be lost. Indeed, those things considered
least important and small by the unfaithful or by worldly people are
not small before God but necessary. For the Lord taught the
commandments and did them. Even small things point to the great future
of the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, not only words but also
deeds are important; and you should not only teach, but what you
teach, you should do."
--by Chromatius (died 406 AD)(excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 20.2.1–3)

<<>><<>><<>>
August 21st - St. Bassa and Companions, Martyrs in Edessa

The Martyress Bassa with her sons Theognios, Agapios and Pistos, lived
in the city of Macedonian Edessa and she was married to a
pagan-priest. From childhood she had been raised in the Christian
faith, which she passed on to her sons. During the time of the emperor
Maximian Galerius (305-311), the husband reported to the governor on
his wife and children. All of them, in spite of threats, refused to
offer sacrifice to idols. They took the eldest son, Theognios, and
tore at him with iron claws. They flayed the skin of the lad Agapios
from head to chest, but the martyr did not utter a sound. Finally,
they began to torture also the youngest son Pistos. The mother did not
hesitate to encourage them to endure the suffering for Christ.

Then they beheaded the lads. (By one account, the three martyred
brothers suffered at Edessa in Macedonia; by another account--at
Larissa in Thessaly their homeland). They locked up Saint Bassa in
prison and exhausted her with hunger, but an Angel strengthened her
with heavenly food. Under successive tortures she remained unharmed
from fire, water and beasts. When they brought her to a pagan temple,
she shattered the statue of Zeus. Then they threw the martyress into a
whirlpool in the sea. But to everyone's surprise a ship sailed up, and
three radiant men pulled her up (the Monk Nikodemos of the Holy
Mountain suggested that these were her children, martyred earlier).
After 8 days Saint Bassa came by ship to the governor of the island of
Alona, not far from Kyzika, in the Prepontid or Marmora Sea. After a
beating with canes they beheaded her.

It is known that around the year 450 there already existed at
Chalcedon a church in honour of the holy Martyress Bassa.


Saint Quote:
From humility of heart proceed serenity of mind, gentleness of
conduct, interior peace, and every good.
--St. Paul of the Cross

Bible Quote:
"Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me
declares Yahweh Sabaoth! *Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep! And
I shall turn my hand against the young! So it will be, throughout the
country--declares Yahweh Sabaoth--two-thirds in it will be cut off and
the other third will be left. I shall pass this third through the
fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as gold is tested.
He will call on my name and I shall answer him; I shall say, 'He is my
people,' and he will say, 'Yahweh is my God!' [Zechariah 13:7-9]

*Strike the shepherd…scatter the sheep!: in Matthew’s Gospel (26:31)
Jesus makes use of this text before his arrest in the Garden of
Gethsemane and the flight of the disciples.


Resentment

Resentment doesn't just happen, it grows like a poisonous plant that
grows entwined in our hearts. The weed increases in size until it
chokes the fruitful vine that should be growing there instead. It is
something that we can control, for if we don't it will invade all of
our thinking. Jesus forbids us bear anger in our heart if we are to
approach God with our prayers of petition, adoration, contrition or
thanksgiving.